REAL RADIO’S DIXIE REVIEWS THE LATEST CD RELEASES...

Issue 44:

PLAN B
THE DEFAMATION OF STRICKLAND BANKS

Benjamin Paul Ballance Drew, better known to you and me as Plan B, returns with his second studio album, ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’, which sees a departure in style from his critically acclaimed first offering, ‘Who Needs Actions When You Got Words’. ‘Defamation’ is a radio friendly almost Motown sounding record, that tells the Fictitious story of a singer who finds fame, but then loses everything when he ends up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Fans of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back in Black’ and Daniel Merriweather’s ‘Love and War’ will love this.

The opening song, ‘Love goes down’, is classic soul which could have come straight off a Motown album. The singles ‘Stay too Long’ and ‘She Said’ are both instantly catchy and ‘Prayin’ is a real stand out. Only a couple of tracks fall flat, ‘Welcome to Hell’ and ‘Hard Times’, but on the whole, this is an impressive offering from Benjamin Drew. It may take a few listens to get the full gist of this concept album and what the story is all about, but who cares when the songs are this good.

SLASH
SLASH

The boy from Stoke-on-Trent done good; this is a terrific album, most of which we won’t play but there are a couple of really big crossovers on here which I believe we eventually will. Slash is of course a guitarist of note; Guns n Roses, Slash’s Snake Pit and Velvet Revolver not omitting his collaboration with Michael Jackson. What he’s done here is amassed an impressive line-up of singers (or mates, more like), sat down with them, written songs and released a CD!

It’s star-studded too! Ian Astbury of the Cult opens with the excellent ‘Ghost’, Ozzy Osbourne follows on the average ‘Crucify The Dead’ while Black Eyed Pea’s Fergie delivers a great rocker on ‘Beautiful Dangerous’ and proves she certainly can run with the big dogs. Myles Kennedy who features on the excellent ‘Back From Cali’ might be a new name to some but he’ll be Slash’s touring vocalist when he hits the road. Big names continue throughout - Andrew Stockdale from Wolfmother, Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl, Guns n Roses’ Duff McKagan and Iggy Pop – all keeping the quality bar high. A real peak comes with Lemmy on ‘Dr Alibi’; 100% perfect Lemmy! Though the big crossover hits stick out like a sore thumb;- Adam Levine (Maroon 5) ‘Gotten’ is perfect for the here and now and a huge hit in the
waiting as is Kid Rock on ‘I Hold On’. Both brilliant.

Slash is a world class performer and he’s produced an album that keeps all of his credibility while being very accessible. Who said you can’t please all the people all the time? If you like a bit of him, check out our sister station www.rockradio.co.uk where Slash actually did a full and exclusive play back of this album which is available as a listen again.

PLACEBO
Covers

Originally released in 2003 as a limited edition coupled with the ‘Sleeping With Ghosts’ album, ‘Covers’ is a great intermission while Placebo follow up their excellent ‘Battle For The Sun’. ‘Covers’ brings together 10 songs which have been featured as B-sides, radio sessions, on soundtracks or tribute albums. It is an eclectic mix and at a guess sounds like what front man Brian Molko might have grown up with or be listening to on his iPod. All the songs fit Molok’s voice perfectly; Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’, The Smiths’ ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ and Robert Palmers’ ‘Johnny and Mary’ all excellent while T-Rex’s ‘20th Century Boy’ could be a Placebo song. It’s a
perfect cover musically and, once again, a great vocal delivery. The inclusion of ‘Daddy Cool’,not The Darts song
but the Bony M one, is a low in my humble opinion. The B-side of single ‘The Bitter End’ starts off quite novel but soon loses its appeal and its entire cool. ‘The Ballad of Melody Nelson’, originallyperformed by Serge Gainsbourg and recorded for the ‘Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited’ compilation album is nice and adds a bohemian feel to proceedings. Closing the CD is ‘Jackie’ a lovely ballad and once again performed beautifully. If you are not familiar, ‘Covers’ is a great way to meet Placebo. I would recommend it.

BLACK SABBATH

• Heavan And Hell: Deluxe edition
• Live Evil: Deluxe edition
• Mob Rule: Deluxe edition

MOB RULE: DELUXE EDITION
After the halcyon days of the 70s, Sabbath ran aground through alcohol abuses which led to the sacking of front man, Ozzy Osbourne. From 1980 one legend out and a new legend in; Ronni James Dio took to the mic and the band continued to rock with some incredible albums. Again, not music you’re likely to hear from us but definitely
on our sister station Rock Radio at www.rockradio. co.uk . I’m reviewing these because they are such great packages, each release is a double CD, repackaged in lush quadruple foldout packaging with lots of great pictures and an in-depth booklet all wrapped up in a nice clear slip case. Oh, and they are cracking albums.

Issue 43:

OCEAN COLOUR SCENE
SATURDAY

Birmingham’s Ocean Colour Scene, who will be celebrating their 21st anniversary this year, have clocked up an impressive 11 Top 20 singles and five Top 10 albums during their illustrious career.  Saturday is their ninth studio album, and from the opening bars of  psych-folk opener ‘100 Floors Of Perception’ to epic climax ‘Rockfield,’ it’s a reminder than when it comes to delivering  classic rock hooks there are fewer bands better.  Denim-driven boogie ‘Old Pair Of Jeans’ will delight those hankering for the full-tilt mod-pop, while stand out ‘Harry Kidnap’ is written in tribute to Paul Weller’s late father, John.  The single, ‘Magic Carpet Days’, meanwhile is a reminder that their belief in the Mod aesthetic of self-improvement remains as strong as ever.
 
Ocean Colour Scene have always been a formidable force and ‘Saturday’ underpins that. Well worth grabbing a copy.
 

ALPHABEAT
THE BEAT IS… 

Alphabeat say they are special because they’re Danish and there’s quite a few of them, six in fact. ‘The Beat Is…’, has its eyes dead set on the horizon ahead and is full of great songs built on properly affecting retro-pop styles.  You will no doubt have heard the instantly catchy, radio friendly, funk-pop of first single ‘The Spell’, but there’s the slippery filter-house of ‘DJ’, the piano-riff-meets-speaker-rattling bass line of the single, ‘Hole In My Heart’ and the R’n’B touched, down-tempo reach of ‘Q&A’.  You might go for ‘Chess’ with its fantastically pointed opening line, “Baby let’s quit playing chess, you’ve been to my address…” and pitch-bend vocal samples rarely heard since 1989.  Right near the end of the record is the epic, euphoric bliss of ‘The Right Thing’ where a Black Box style big piano screamer tumbles down a huge great chasm of a breakdown.  No need for a remix – everything you’ll ever need is right here.
 
The band is the main support act on Lady GaGa’s Monster Ball tour; she picked them as one of her favourite new acts for no other reason than she likes them.  And we do too. Good, infectious Europop.

THE FEATURES
SOME KIND OF SALVATION

The press release opens with the irresistible line: “Kings Of Leon will proudly release ‘Some Kind Of Salvation’, the new album by Tennessee brethren, The Features”.  Okay, as a fan, that got my attention and the release is laced with quotes from the KOL who have thrown their full weight behind the band and on listening to this, they are not taking much of a gamble.

 ‘Some Kind Of Salvation’ weaves a sound that can be described as a bulging mix of scrappy white-boy soul.  Their influences run the gamut of popular music over the last 50 years, whereas some bands arrange certain songs to sound like this-or-that-era, The Features just let the musical pieces they’ve picked up through the years fall back into place, giving them an identity all their own.  
 
The Kings of Leon influence is rife across the album embracing that empty home grown feel KOL captured on their early albums, while retaining an individual sound. ‘Whatever Gets You By’ is an attention grabbing opener through its quirky empty rhythm, which rips seamlessly into the horn led ‘Drawing Board’. The album motors on with some excellent tunes which could easily cross into mainstream. This is a really good album and these bunch of good ‘ol boys are destined for greatness, mark my words.

ELLIE GOULDING
LIGHTS

Ellie is the winner of the 2010 Brits Critics Choice Award and #1 on BBC Sound of 2010 list, so the album has a lot to live up.  She’s a 22 year old singer/songwriter from Hertfordshire whose appearance on Later with Jools Holland late last year, thrust her into the spotlight.  She has a unique blend of folk influences coupled with ‘electronica’ and the buzz on the social networking sites has been bubbling for a while. 

 ‘Lights’ features 10 tracks, including the singles ‘Under The Sheets’ and ‘Starry Eyed’, and her chief producer and sometimes co-writer Fin Dow-Smith, recorded most of the album in his bedroom in Bromley. This is prevalent through its foundation of drum machines, lush synth keyboards, samples, and vocal manipulation

Ellie’s songs are anchored around big tunes with some charming melodies weaved into exhilarating choruses, ‘The Writer’ is a great example of that while ‘Every Time You Go’ if full of quirky sounds with strong lyrics and is crying out for a dance remix. Stand out for me is ‘Wish I Had Stayed’ which bounds along to an infectious chorus.

Listening to ‘Lights,’ it comes as no surprise that Ellie has written two songs for X-Factor’s Diana Vickers’ upcoming debut album and that says a lot about Ellie and her sound. She’s a dancier, more polished and more refined sounding Vickers.

She has mastered the vocal inflection accents which helped Diana through the early stages of X-Factor and I like the album, there are some good tunes here.  But, and it’s a big but, is she any better or different enough from other artists like Paloma Faith, Adelle, Lenka, Katy Perry in the over-shopped market she’s thrust into?  Only time will tell.

GORILLAZ
PLASTIC BEACH

Plastic Beach is the much anticipated new album from the anime characters 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russel Hobbs that call themselves Gorillaz, but in human form they are best known as Damon Albarn from Blur and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the Tank Girl comic books.

As the world’s biggest animated band, if not the only … (did The Archies officially break up?), Gorillaz formed in 1998 and after only two albums have notched up sales of over 12 million!  It’s been five years since the release of Demon Days which spawned three top ten singles including the brilliant ‘Feel Good Inc’ and now, according to their press release, the alter egos of the band have taken up residence and are recording on a secret floating island deep in the South Pacific, a Plastic Beach HQ, made up of the detritus, debris and washed up remnants of humanity.  

This Plastic Beach is the furthest point from any landmass on Earth; the most deserted spot on the planet.  That might go some way to explaining why this does feel a little out of touch in places and not so different from what went before.

 Laying the foundations for the album is the single ‘Stylo,’ featuring Mos Def and the immaculate soul legend, Bobby Womack. It’s a pretty good example of what to expect with its hypnotic rhythm, clean clear looping lead line and 2D’s lazy rap.  The album is crammed with special guests from Snoop Dogg to Gruff Rhys and Mick Jones, all the way through to The National Orchestra For Arabic Music and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

 Plastic Beach is best listened to as a whole, as tracks like ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ might not travel so well alone, while ‘Glitter Freeze’ is too structurally reminiscent of Muses ‘Uprising’ without the ability of repeated listening. ‘Some Kind Of Nature’ is a nice little ditty featuring Lou Reed and 2D’s very distinctive vocal delivery.  You could hear Blur doing this as it feels very ‘Beetlebum’.

 I’m guessing there will be a couple of big hits coming through from the album but they may come in the form of remixes as, overall, Gorillaz have delivered an album that may be as novel as it is sometimes self-indulgent and hard work in places.

Issue 41:

JLS
JLS

These are the lads that didn’t win X Factor; Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humes’, Jonathan “JB” Gill and Oritsé Williams who together make up JLS (Jack the Lad Swing). This album of 13 perfectly crafted R&B/Pop songs, many of which include writing credits for the boys, feels like a hybrid of so many bands and singers around today.

Within a year of losing the biggest talent show on the planet, JLS have had two number one singles (three if you count the X Factor ‘Hero’ charity single) and this going straight in at #1, equals winner Alexander Burke’s chart performance.

The first single Beat Again won a Best Song MOBO Award and is a nice MTV friendly tune, while Everybody in Love is so Boys II Men it’s worrying; a good song all the same. The album rolls back and forth from pseudo R&B like Close To You, One Shot or Tightrope, to Justin Timberlake wannabes like Private, the euro pop of Only Tonight, the awful Kick Start and Only Making Love.

There is no real soul in the album, too many mixed messages and no songs of any real believable substance. While JLS may be able to light a candle to their idols, it will be a very long time before they are able to hold one to them. Get it while they’re hot!

QUEEN
ABSOLUTE GREATEST

Does what it says on the tin. These are the greatest hits and all on one CD. This is not one for dinner parties as it’s pretty full on right from the tribal drums of We Will Rock You, through all 20 tracks, with a slight respite for Who Wants To Live Forever and The Show must Go On before possibly the greatest song of all time, Bohemian Rhapsody, closes the set. As a unit Queen were a formidable force and Freddie was one of the greatest singers of all time.

The band wrote the hits individually as well as a band, as we see here in the first five tracks; the opener by Brian May, Radio Ga Ga by Roger Taylor, Another One Bites The Dust by John Deacon, We Are The Champions by Freddie and the whole band credited with I Want It All. The brief union with Paul Rodgers was ok for touring but ill advised when it came to recording a new album. Freddie was the heart and soul of Queen, he was the pomp and ceremony and this encapsulates just a morsel of that. It’s a tiny snapshot of one of the greatest and most original bands of the 20th Century. They remain the bench mark for all that follow.

ROBBIE WILLIAMS
REALITY KILLED THE VIDEO STAR

From the wild boy who could do no wrong, Robbie has become such a household name he’s almost started to blend in with the wallpaper.  He really needs a big album, or moreover a single, to underpin the genius status that gave us classics like Millennium, She’s The One, and Angels. Reality Killed the Video Star sees the big guns of legendary producer Trevor Horn step up to try and put Robbie back where he should be; recouping some of the £80m advance he got so publicly in 2001.

So, we kick off with Morning Sun, a pleasant enough mid-tempo song which Robbie performs with ease, but it’s not good enough to reflect the input the six people it took to write it. The first single, Bodies, follows. It’s quirky and the hook is reminiscent of Millennium but it tries too hard to be ‘cool’ and ends up falling short. ‘Bodies’ was the barometer for the album and as the lead single it should have ripped the doors off their hinges and been a dead cert #1. But it fell short at #2, pipped at the post by X Factor’s Alexandra Burke. The next single, You Know Me is based on an original song from 1967 called Voilà by French artist Françoise Hardy. This is another mid-tempo Robbie standard with a huge build that you can just imagine hearing 180,000 people at the likes of Knebworth singing along to. It’s a good track but still, not the albums saviour. Blasphemy is a sweet little tune and sees Robbie back with his old writing partner, Guy Chambers; “So what about the great depression, was it a blast for you? ‘cause it was a Blasphemy..” he sings. It’s a little painful to listen to sometimes because you know he’s spilling his heart out, but maybe that’s just what Robbie needed to do to get back to the Robbie his fans know and love.

Over and above that, the album is littered with familiar echoes but rolls through very nicely and is overall a good listen. Do You Mind is a snarling rocker, Last Days Of Disco should be a duet with the Pet Shop Boys, Somewhere is a 62 second Beatles-esque vignette, but there’s nothing on a par with the likes of the aforementioned classics or Rock DJ and certainly nothing to touch Let Me Entertain You.  

FOO FIGHTERS
GREATEST HITS

Dave Grohl has been very public in his opposition to this release, though let’s make it clear from the off; this album is brilliant. Grohl has turned out to be an awesome songwriter, all round musician and an iconic figure in the world of rock. Not a band you’ll hear on our station, but our sister station, the home of classic rock, Rock Radio (www.rockradio.co.uk) love this one. Once the drummer in Nirvana, the band that gave birth to grunge, Dave Grohl went through various transitions following the tragic death of Kurt Cobain and subsequently the band.

Featuring tracks from all six studio albums, the Foo Fighters mix power pop/rock with some seriously brilliant riff led hard edged rock. The Pretender has to be one of the best rock songs of recent years as it deceives you with its soft acoustic guitar intro, layered with Grohl’s gentle vocal which suddenly jars into the angrier choppier verse, until it kicks the doors in on its mighty chorus… Brilliant and a typical build on a Foo Fighters track. The obligatory two new tracks are ‘Wheels’ which is fresh and relevant and a prime cut followed by ‘Word Forward,’ which stands up as an excellent album track.

The great thing here is oldies can say they love Foo Fighters and hip young things can say they love Foo Fighters and both are right. Foo Fighters transcend generations and are awesome. If you want the proof, buy this.

SNOW PATROL
UP TO NOW

Those who have been with Snow Patrol since their debut Songs for Polar Bears album will have most of what we are presented with here. But for many, Eye’s Open was Snow Patrol’s first album so this could be a journey of great discovery. I just hope they travel past the hits to songs like 1998’s brilliant Starfighter Pilot from that first album or On/Off from 2001’s When It’s All Over We Still Have To Clear Up. It took Snow Patrol three albums, (four if you count Gary Lightbody’s ‘indie supergroup’ The Reindeer Section’s release) before they really hit big with Run, from The Final Straw followed by the real monster; Chasing Cars from Eye’s Open. When you listen across this collection, their sound, which would have been classed as ‘indie,’ has stayed true and they have made their sound mainstream.

The production is sharper but basically, the fact is they have always been really good. Featuring three new songs, one of which ‘Just Say Yes’ was the first single, Up To Now is 30 great tracks across a 2 CD set and is vital listening.

Issue 40:

REAL RADIO’S DIXIE REVIEWS THE LATEST CD RELEASES...

MICHAEL BOLTON
ONE WORLD, ONE LOVE

The monster selling superstar Michael Bolton returns with a new album featuring a clutch of more than acceptable new songs. His tendency to overcook every performance in the past remains and can be a little trying, but the fact of the matter is he has an undeniably great voice. ‘One World..’ offers up nothing extraordinary, no surprises and is perfectly Michael Bolton and a very listenable album, which he probably made without breaking into a sweat!

Opening up with the very nice Caribbean feel – which is not really reggae and not quite AOR - of ‘Ready For Love.’ Things pick up on track two which is both the title track and the first single and preaches of world love and is very Michael Bolton. Looking to gain some ‘street smarts’ we see Mike teaming up with hip young things Ne-Yo on the vocoda driven ‘The Best’ and Lady Gaga on the R&B ish ‘Murder My Heart’ and needless to say, Ne-Yo and Gaga pull back to Bolton’s standard rather than him stepping up to theirs. It would have been good to hear him take some risks and step outside of his comfort zone, it’s not like he needs the money now with a string of multi-million selling singles and albums to his credit.

Though saying that the $5.4 million fine he picked up for infringement of copyright on his 1991 hit “Love Is a Wonderful Thing” of the 1964 Isley Brothers song of the same name must have smacked somewhat! Regardless, ‘One Love One World’ is a good album and no Michael Bolton fan will be disappointed as it’s right on message, it would  just be nice to see him make a record where we could hear him grow… oh, and discover the words, ‘subtle vocal.’ As if to prove the point his closing track is a cover of Van Morrison’s brilliant ‘Crazy Love.’ What does Mike do? He delivers it, as his did on his cover of Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay, with the subtlety of a dawn raid from the D.E.A…

DAVID GRAY
DRAW THE LINE

Album number eight sees no let up in the quality of output from Mr Gray. He has spoken about ‘Draw The Line’ being a new direction for himself, but I’ve had the slide rule out and I can see no deviation from his well trodden path. However, it’s not a problem, as he’s presented an excellent album of unmistakably David Gray songs. The opening track ‘Fugitive,’ you know you’re in for something good as it builds with its richly layered harmonies and his instantly identifiable Dylan-esque vocals. If you’re a fan you’ll have it already, but if you are ‘Gray-curious’ or like a bit of folk rock you should check it out.  If you fall into any other camp, this will more than likely leave you tepid.

KISS!
SONIC BOOM

Yes, they are back with a brand-spanking new, totally rockin’ album and at last at their age, the face painting is paying dividends! It’s over 10 years since their last studio album and Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have spent most of those years saying they would never record together and then, BOOM! ‘Sonic Boom’ is dropped upon us. Gene Simmons summed it up: “If you’re a fan of our stuff from about 1977, you’ll feel right at home” and believe me you don’t need to hail from ’77 to appreciate this. This is music for our sister station Rock Radio (www.rockradio.co.uk), the Guitar Hero/ Rock Band generation and anyone else who fancies a bit of sparkle and fun in their rock.

MUSE
THE RESISTANCE

The Resistance is a superb album which following on from the monster that was ‘Black Holes And Revelations’ must have taken many fans by surprise in its musical direction. Unashamedly retro, the albums opener really does put a line in the sand as in one song we have near Dr Who blended with Rock n Roll Pt1 and Blondie’s Call Me influences all wrapped into the belter called ‘Uprising’. The three part symphony  ‘Exogenesis’ only goes to underline the depth and breadth of Bellamy’s writing on ‘The Resistance,’ it is faultless, as is the production (which is credited to the band.) Own this.

THE DRIFTERS
FIVE DECADES & MOORE

They are all here from 1953’s Honey Love to 1958’s excellent Drip Drop right through to Under The Boardwalk, Like Sister and Brother, Kissing In The Back Row Of The Movies through to four new song recorded by the current line up. This is an excellent snap shot of what was once an amazing band which include the legends Clyde McPhatter and Ben E King. The problem is, you can get most of these tracks on any £3.99 compilation from Tesco’s and the four new tracks are, to put it very nicely, simply not up to muster.

Issue 39:

REAL RADIO’S DIXIE REVIEWS THE LATEST CD RELEASES...

PALOMA FAITH
DO YOU WANT THE TRUTH OR SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

Two singles down the road and ex-magician’s assistant Paloma Faith is a very serious contender in an overcrowded female artist market. Think Duffy meets Amy Winehouse – hey, who doesn’t sound like Amy today? - add a bit of Alesha Dixon and Adele and you’ll get the picture. It’s a pretty joyous melodic little journey really and there’s little here that’ll make anyone ask for their money back. The first single ‘Stone Cold Sober’ opens the album and works really well. It’s a good pop tune but a little away from where the rest of the album lives musically. ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ slips into the retro feel and ‘Broken Doll’ is a lovely tune which slips further back into nostalgia rather than retro. As Duffy is Dusty Springfield, Paloma sounds and awful lot like Doris Day in places. The title track’s a hit in waiting; I like it a lot. Paloma’s voice feel’s natural and not affected by the influences previously mentioned and on the strength of this those attention seeking mimics are really not required.

She’s got an excellent voice and the song builds perfectly, it’s a well produced and constructed ballad. ‘Upside Down’ cashes in on the ‘Christina Aguilera Candyman Alesha Dixon The Boy Does Nothing’ sound. It’s great fun and will no doubt have a vivacious, sexy video to accompany it on its journey to the top of the charts. ‘Romance is Dead’ sees a return to the affected voices – I use the plural as she goes from Adele to Amy to Paloma with unnerving ease – while the excellent new single, ‘New York,’ is followed by the soulful ‘Stargazer.’ ‘My Legs Are Weak’ is bursting with choral glories and souring string which just leaves ‘Play On’ to close the show.

I truly believe if Paloma Faith had kept her identity to the fore and not sought to jump in on the popularised vocal band wagon’s this could have been a really credible debut album. As it is, she will have to be content with people seeing through that and discovering that the truth actually can be something beautiful.

DAVID BOWIE
VH1: STORYTELLERS

Bowie is the man and with a glittering career packed full of highs and lows (and then-some, in the lows department.) So, here we are in 1999 and The Thin White Duke entered The Manhattan Centre in New York, to record this, an intimate evening of music and chat for VH1. In this double CD release we have the soundtrack on one and the DVD on the other. On the soundtrack disc Bowie is, musically faultless.

But, I’m only disappointed in his storytelling, the music is perfect. ‘China Girl’ is given a bluesy intro and ‘Thursday’s Child’ from the Hours album is delivered impeccably

VARIOUS ARTISTS
SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Ah, summer… remember that? Well if we can’t have the real thing we can live it through music and this lovely compilation hit’s all the right buttons. Cliff Richard And The Shadows - Summer Holiday, Neil Sedaka - Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Elvis Presley - Devil In Disguise, Andy Williams - Can’t Get Used To Losing You, Perry Como - Magic Moments, Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues the list goes on-and-on. 40 faultless tracks from the 50’s and early 60’s which keeps the heat on all the way through. Summer Holiday is a breath of fresh air for those who remember the songs but a great music history lesson for my younger readers. It’s a must for everyone.

IAN HUNTER
YOUR NEVER ALONE WITH A SCHIZOPHRENIC

Possibly one of the best album titles ever and musically not bad, either. Ian Hunter was the big haired sunglass wearing front man for Mott The Hoople. Following the implosion of Mott, Ian continued, and continues to this day, his musical career with some brilliant solo albums though saying ‘solo’ might be a bit rich as the late great Mick Ronson was an integral part of Ian’s career. He played and produced on this and many of his later albums.

COLDPLAY
LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT LEFT

So, contrary to popular belief, there is such thing as a free lunch! Chris Martin and the boys are giving this live collection as a free, yes free, download, from www.coldplay.com by way of a thank you to their fans. This is an incredibly generous gift, as if they put this out on general release; it would without a doubt be a huge chart topper. Nine perfectly recorded tracks which include songs from the cracking album, ‘Viva la Vida (or Death and All
His Friends).